


Teacher Initiation

by hellbornbrat (TheLastTime)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M, Malec
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:53:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27048271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLastTime/pseuds/hellbornbrat
Summary: There was absolutely no need to drag Alec into this, especially after he had told Lily how far gone he was for this boy he’s said exactly two sentences to. How was he expected to sit with him for a whole evening and not make a complete ass of himself? He’s doomed.Magnus has a crush on the new math student-teacher even though he knows absolutely nothing about him. Teachers AU
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! I've been holding on to this for months and decided to finally share it. I'll be posting a chapter tomorrow and then the final one on Monday. Happy Reading :)

Fall, Magnus has decided, was his least favorite season. Sure, the trees were changing colors, and everything smelled like the inside of a Yankee Candle store, but it also brought the cold weather and worst of all the start of school. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it didn’t mean he spent his precious free time grading papers and correcting tests instead of playing with the Chairman as he would prefer. Magnus loves his job, really, it just gets a bit overwhelming at times like, for example, tonight. He’s been sitting at home lesson planning for so long that his head starts to spin and his stomach turn. It’s long hours like these that make him long for the escape of the weekend where he can go out and let loose.

Magnus shakes his head, the last thing he needs to do is go down that train of thought where he’ll start thinking about what band he’s seeing with Raphael and Lily this weekend. Even worse, he’ll start thinking about whether or not Lily will let him stay home this weekend which will inevitably end in Magnus wasting 30 minutes going over excuses in his head. So with that in mind, Magnus buckles down and finishes up the last couple of tests he has, and goes to bed.

* * *

Magnus is late this morning but, then again, when is he not late? Still, he makes it to his classroom with one minute to spare which he counts as a success. Just as he’s set to arranging the papers on his desk Lily swings by.

“Please tell me how you convinced Mr. Coleman to give you a first-period planning block?” Lily grumps.

“What can I say Lily I’m very convincing when I want to be.” Magnus throws a sly grin at her. “Besides at least you don’t have a homeroom. I have all freshman this year, it’s horrifying.”

Lily narrows her eyes at him, “Oh shut up homeroom is only 10 minutes tops. You don’t have to deal with freshman in first period swim trying to drown each other.”

Magnus throws his arm around Lily, giving her a side hug. “I’m sorry Lily. Do you want me to grab you a coffee during my lunch to make it up to you?”

Lily grins up at him. “Don’t forget the 2 sugars and the croissant on the side.”

Magnus just shakes his head as he watches her trudge out of his room and hurry down the stairs before the students start streaming in. Just as he’s about to turn away from the doorway, a bright-eyed, very tall brunette walks right by his door. Magnus peaks his head out his doorway, his eyes following the boy down the hall. He’s dressed smartly in gray dress pants and a light blue shirt, _I didn’t know they hired a new teacher?_ Magnus thinks. Just as Magnus is about to fully appreciate the mystery teacher’s assets he turns into the math workroom confusing Magnus even more. Magnus admittedly pays little attention during staff meetings but a new teacher on his floor definitely would have been brought up copiously. Just as he’s about to go prod one of the math teachers for info the warning bell rings. Magnus groans, he’ll have to postpone his investigation until after homeroom.

* * *

Magnus practically sprints out of his room as soon as the bell rings signaling passing period, making a b-line to Mrs. Lindham’s room. If anyone was going to know something about this new teacher, it would definitely be the woman who’d been here since Magnus was still in diapers.

“Mr. Bane, how are you doing dear?”

Magnus gives her his sweetest smile, “I’m great Mrs. Lindham how are you doing?”

“Just peachy! We’re starting functions today my favorite topic!” She claps her hands together. Magnus hears the few students in the room groan.

“Oh boy how ever do you contain yourself?” Magnus chuckles. “Can I talk to you real quick in the hallway?” Mrs. Lindham nods and follows him a few steps down the hallway.

“It’s nothing serious I just didn’t want students to hear me gossiping. I noticed the math department had a new hire?”

Mrs. Lindham scrunches her eyebrows together, “We haven’t hired anyone new?”

Now Magnus' confused, who else would be walking on the third floor in work pants and loafers and then stop off into the teacher lounge? “Oh I’m sorry I just saw a guy with a school ID walking down the hall and into the math workroom and assumed…”

“Oh! You must mean Alec! He’s my student teacher for the term.”

Now, this was news to Magnus. The Math department hadn’t had a student-teacher since the sophomore’s all but terrorized their last one away three years ago. “I didn’t know you got student teachers. I’ve never seen one with you before.”

“Oh I don’t usually but I’ve known Alec and his siblings since they were babies. I went to university with his mother and have kept in touch with her ever since. Alec’s a great kid, I couldn’t say no.”

“I guess I won’t have to tell you to let me know if he causes you any problems then huh?” Magnus grins.

Mrs. Lindham laughs, “No but thank you for the offer.”

As if he could hear them talking about him, Alec rounds the corner. “I hope I got enough copies, the copier was broken…” He finally looks up from flipping through the worksheets and meets Magnus' eyes. “Oh I’m so sorry for interrupting, I didn’t see you there.” Alec blushes.

And maybe Alec didn’t see Magnus but Magnus sure saw Alec. He was even more beautiful from the front than he was from the back. How is it possible for someone to have eyes that blue and a smile that wide? He’s absolutely done for. How is he expected to get anything done with Alec a few meters down the hall?

“It’s no worry, Alec. This is Magnus, he’s one of the chemistry teachers.”

“Nice to meet you.” Alec shakes Magnus' hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too Alec. Mrs. Lindham was telling me today’s your first day with her. Nervous?”

“I think nervous would be an understatement. Is it too late to choose a different profession or…?”

“I heard the McDonald’s down the road was hiring.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll see you guys.”

“Oh cut it out you two. You’ll be a great teacher Alec,” Mrs. Lindham says. “And you, Mr. Bane, don’t need to feed his imagination.”

“I guess we’ll see about the great part today.” Alec bites the inside of his cheek. Magnus really shouldn’t find it as endearing as he does.

“Well you’re in good hands with Mrs. Lindham, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that,” Magnus adds.

“Oh be quiet and get out of here you brown-noser,” Mrs. Lindham elbows Magnus toward his own classroom. “Some of us have a class to teach.”

Magnus lift his hands up in defeat, “Have a good first period, I’ll see you around Alec!”

* * *

“I’m going to die Lily.” Magnus slumps into his seat with Lily’s promised coffee and croissant.

“Sweet, can I have your apartment?” Lily dives for the coffee and rips a piece of the croissant off, popping it into his mouth.

Magnus narrows his eyes, “Why aren’t you more concerned. I’m having a life crisis!”

“You have a life crisis every other week, excuse me if I’ve become immune to your dramatics,” Lily rolls her eyes, to which Magnus pouts. “Fine, fine! What’s the problem, Magnus.”

“I’ve found my soulmate.”

“That doesn’t sound like a problem to me?”

“He’s Sharon Lindham’s student teacher.”

“So?”

“So??? I can’t just go up and ask him out on a date! That’s unprofessional and slightly creepy! He’s still a college student isn’t that violating some set of rules or something?”

“Dude I don’t get the big deal. You’re both adults he’s probably what 22? You’re 26, that's only a four-year difference.”

Magnus huffs indignantly, “He’s probably not even gay.”

“You never know unless you ask,” Lily grins. “And looks like now’s the perfect time.” Lily waves at Alec. Alec spots Lily and enthusiastically waves back.

“Hey Lily! How’d that fiasco at the pool end up this morning?”

Magnus discreetly has to hide his shock. “You will not BELIEVE how many swim caps those assholes shoved into the pool filter. How do they even come up with this stuff? Is there some secret list floating around here on how to drive teachers crazy?”

“I don’t know, I mean I was dumb at fourteen but I wasn’t let’s shove twenty swim caps into the pool filter dumb you know?”

“It was forty-seven swim caps. Forty. Seven.”

At this point, Magnus has finally recovered from Lily’s life-ruining move and has the wits about him to join the conversation. “That’s gotta be some sort of record.”

“Yeah well don’t go telling them that it’ll just egg them on. ‘Bro let see if we can get a record for this we’ll be in the Guinness World Record Book!’ Fucking idiots the lot of them. They can see how funny it is when they have to pay for a new filter.” Lily says snidely.

“Awwe come on Lily lighten up. You have to admit it is a little funny and besides it’s not like you’ll be the one having to fix the filter.” Magnus teases.

“It’s the principle of the thing! I’ll have to be the one to figure out how to occupy sixty rowdy teenagers for forty minutes.”

Alec shares an amused smile with Magnus, “Isn’t that, I don’t know, your job in the first place?”

Lily sputters, “That—That’s not the point! The point is I already have my lesson plan all set for this unit and I don’t need those dumbasses derailing it already!”

Magnus reaches over and pinches Lily’s left cheek, “Cheer up Lily it’s all going to be okay.” He says patronizingly.

Lily quickly swats away his hand. “You know what’ll cheer me up?” Lily asks with a knowing smile. Magnus has known Lily too long to not know exactly what that smile means. She’s about to rope Magnus into doing something he doesn’t particularly want to do.

“What?” Alec, oblivious to Lily’s manipulative ways, asks.

“Going out to Crabby’s Friday and letting me demolish you at trivia.”

Alec scrunches his eyebrows together (really cutely Magnus must admit). Magnus sighs. “Lily noooo that’s such a bad idea we have evals in three weeks we don’t have time to get plastered.”

“Magnus pleaseeee? I’ve had a shitty week and it’s only Tuesday. I even promise Raphael and I won’t get sloppy like we did two weeks ago.”

Magnus scoffs, “I don’t believe you. You guys are gonna ditch me like you always do.”

“Alec will come and keep you company! Right Alec?”

Alec looks between Magnus and Lily like a deer caught in headlights, “Uhhh sure I guess? If you want me to?”

“It’s settled then! Come on Mags it’ll be fun! Think of it as showing Alec how being a real teacher feels.”

Magnus rubs his temples. There was absolutely no need to drag Alec into this, especially after he had told Lily how far gone he was for this boy he’s said exactly two sentences to. How was he expected to sit with him for a whole evening and not make a complete ass of himself? He’s doomed. He may as well start finding another soul-mate because this one is clearly destined to fail.

“Fine I’ll go, but you better tell Raphael to keep his snide comments to himself.” Magnus finally answers.

“Yes!” Lily pumps her fist in the air. “I love you Mags.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” Magnus was going to have the longest night of his life on Friday.

* * *

The week seems to race by for once, which is just Magnus' luck that the one time he wishes it would drag on it passes by in a blink of an eye. Much to his disappointment Magnus hasn’t been able to talk much to Alec since Tuesday. Other than quick hellos and goodbyes in the hallway he hasn’t seen Alec at all. He’s beginning to think Alec’s avoiding him. Magnus catches Alec quite literally on Friday in the hallway after he trips and almost face plants into the tile floor.

“Whoa there.” Magnus catches Alec by his arm. “can’t have you getting out of Trivia night that easily.”

Alec’s blush blooms across his face and crawls down his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. Magnus wonders if he’s a full-body blusher.

He’d really love to find out.

“Oh I wouldn’t dream of it. Speaking of I don’t want to intrude on yours and Lily’s friend time. If you don’t want me to come I’ll just stay home honestly, no feelings hurt.”

Fuck. Fuck. Magnus' internal panic must not have been so internal and now it makes sense why he hadn’t seen Alec all week, he had been avoiding him. Magnus' such a dumb fucking idiot sometimes.

“No!—I mean no it’s fine, I was just caught off guard. Lily doesn’t usually invite new people to trivia, she and Raphael are pretty intense about it.” Magnus' only partially making that up, Raphael and Lily do get pretty into it when they’re not at each other’s throats.

“Oh okay! I just wasn’t sure it looked like you might have just wanted it to be close friends, which is cool! I just didn’t want to intrude.” Alec nervously rubs the back of his neck.

“You’re totally 100 percent wanted at trivia Alec I promise.” Magnus smiles lopsidedly at him, hoping to ease some of the clear anxiety residing in Alec.

“Cool, I’ll definitely be there. See you later then?”

“Did Lily give you the address? It’s a bit confusing to get to.”

“Yeah she did, but I’m really not very familiar with the area.”

Magnus makes a split decision that he’s sure he’s going to regret as soon as it comes out his mouth, “We could carpool if you want? I don’t mind and I definitely know how it feels to have to find a new place by yourself. This way I can show you where it is and you won’t have to awkwardly walk in by yourself.”

Alec brightens up at this suggestion, “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a hassle.”

The relief that washes through Alec is enough to make Magnus sure of his answer, “Yes absolutely it’s no problem at all.”

“Okay awesome. Thank you so much Magnus.” Alec smiles at him so genuinely that you would think Magnus just offered to pay his student loans off not offer to carpool to a bar on a Friday night. After exchanging numbers Magnus walks away thinking that he could listen to Alec say his name for hours


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised this on Saturday but I got a TON of work in this weekend and then I didn't like how this chapter turned out so I added another 1k words. Expect the last chapter Friday hopefully. Happy reading!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @hellbornbrat

Magnus triple checks the address before texting Alec that he’s here. His palms are already sweaty, and he’s already sent over a dozen texts to Lily freaking out about his stupid carpool idea. 

It’s really not that stupid, Alec had been so appreciative when he offered which already made it worth it but fuck was he nervous. Worried he’d say something dumb and mess the whole thing up. The last thing Magnus wanted to do was make Alec uncomfortable and scare him off.

Alec appears outside his apartment complex wearing the tightest pair of blue jeans Magnus had ever seen. Although Magnus was a firm believer of black jeans only, he had to admit that Alec had him reconsidering that idea completely. Shaking himself out of those thoughts (which were dangerous this early in the night), Magnus sees Alec looking around for him, his black hair flopping into his eyes. 

He rolls down his window and yells over to him, “Hey Alec!” 

Alec spots him gladly and walks to his car. “Hey! You found my address okay then?” Alec gets in the passenger seat and buckles his seatbelt.

“Yep, no problem! It’s actually not too far from my place.” 

“Oh nice! Then I wasn’t too much out of your way then.”

“I told you Alec I don’t mind at all. This way I won’t have to spend any time alone with the terrible twosome.”

Alec chuckles, “They’re that bad?”

“Okay I may be exaggerating a teensy bit, but they get really bad once they get a couple of drinks in, it’s like they don’t know they’re in public.”

“Well, you have me to share the misery with tonight.”

“You know what they say, Misery loves company so it’s only fitting.” Magnus fiddles with the song selection before pulling onto the road. “So you’re in your last year of Uni then?” 

Alec nods, “Mhm, thank god I don’t know if I could take any more pointless papers.”

“You still have your master’s to go for too.” Magnus laughs.

“That’s true.” Alec sighs, “How is it going for your master’s? How’s it feel to be totally done?”

“Honestly if you’ve made it this far with good grades, you’ll be fine in your master’s. It’s just more reading and writing endless papers but then once you finish and never have to go back it’s the best feeling ever.” 

Alec hums in appreciation. “I just hope I can get a job after all this, it makes me so unbelievably anxious thinking about how I have to find an actual job after this semester.” 

“I understand that, but I don’t know I personally think that if you’re really passionate about what you do, you’ll find something.” 

“You think so?” Alec asks hopefully. Magnus can tell this is something that probably keeps Alec up at night. This beautiful boy’s nightmares are probably littered with worries of not being enough. Magnus has been there himself and it took a lot of work to rewire his brain not to instantly go there.

He wants nothing more than to be the person to let Alec know he will be enough, that he already  _ is _ enough.

“Definitely, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Magnus says.

“I really appreciate you saying that Magnus, you’re a really phenomenal teacher,” Alec says honestly.

“Now, now Alec, no need to kiss my ass I assure you I’m not on the hiring committee.” Magnus jokes.

Alec flushes, “I may have peaked in on a couple of your classes while getting lost going back to Mrs. Lindham’s room. Plus all the students talk about you, they really do love your class. I really want to be that kind of teacher when I have my own class.”

Magnus is pleasantly surprised. “I promise I’m not all that great.” Magnus laughs nervously.

“The way you get these 16- and 17-year-olds excited about wave models is amazing And they really trust you. Seriously, I think you’re a great person and I know we just met but I’m so glad we did. I really want to be that kind of teacher when I have my own class.”

It isn’t that Magnus doesn’t believe him, it’s that it means  _ so _ much to him that someone else noticed. He's worked hard to be the kind of teacher he wanted as a high schooler and to have someone validate it is gratifying. If Magnus spent more than 10 seconds lingering on what Alec said, he’d probably get misty-eyed. 

Magnus clears his throat, “Well from what I’ve seen you seem like a really passionate teacher so you’re bound to be even better.”

Alec smiles. “It’s thrilling, isn’t it? Having such a direct impact on people’s lives?”

Magnus nods, “It’s the best part. I can’t begin to tell you how gratifying it is when they come back and tell you what they’ve gone on to do.”

Magnus steers the car into Crabby’s parking lot. “We’re here. Think you could find it on your own next time?”

Alec freezes, “Uhhhhhh.”

“We usually go every Friday so I can drive you the next couple of times until you get the hang of it. If you’re up to coming out with us again after tonight that is.” 

“That would be great, you were right it is a bit confusing.” 

“Sounds like a plan then Alexander, it’s no problem at all.” Magnus smiles reassuringly at him as he takes the keys out of the ignition. “Let’s get in there before Lily names our team something completely ridiculous.” 

Alec stops short, “Alexander?”

“Is your full name not Alexander?”

“No it is! I just–no one calls me that except for my mom.” Alec rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly.

Magnus shrugs, “I think it suits you better.” and with that Magnus turns and opens the door. “After you Alexander,” he smirks.

As Magnus and Alec weave their way through Crabby’s, Magnus spots their usual booth, finding Lily and Raphael already there, a round of drinks already ordered.

Raphael spots them, “You made it on time, it’s a miracle!”

Magnus rolls his eyes, “I’m not always late.” He mutters as he and Alec slide into the booth across from them.

“Yeah not always Raphael only 90% of the time,” Lily jokes.

“Control your boyfriend Lily, only you can sass me.”

Lily rolls her eyes as Raphael scoffs, “Get used to it Bane I’ve been sassing you since we were 16.” 

“You guys have known each other for a long time then?” Alec interrupts their bickering.

“Fuck I’m sorry Alexander. Raphael this is Alec, Alec this is Raphael. Alec is the new student teacher in the math department.” 

“Interesting, what kind of math do you want to teach?”

“I’ll take any teaching job I can get to be honest but I really love teaching geometry.” 

Lily nods, “Nice! Hey Mags, wasn't it the geometry teacher who you made cry in high school?”

“Listen it’s not my fault that you were a dickhead and dared me to get the whole class to get up and leave.” Magnus chimes in. 

“Oh yes, so it’s  _ my  _ fault. Watch it Magnus you know you love me.” 

“I’d love you more if you’d stop butt dialing me while you’re fooling around with your flavor of the week.”

Lily sputters, “I—it was one time! I told you I was sorry!”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I’ll never be able to get those sounds out of my head!”

“Let’s not start shouting at each other before trivia starts alright?” Raphael breaks the shouting match up. “or scare Alec away yet. We finally have four people and aren’t short a person.”

“So how does this work? I’ve errr actually never gone to a trivia night.” Alec asks.

“Excellent question, Alexander! It’s easy enough. The moderator will read the question and every team has 30 seconds to write down their answer. you get a point for every question you get right and the person with the most points at the end wins. We usually don’t make it very far—”

Magnus is cut off by Raphael. “Because Lily and Magnus take a shot every time we get a question wrong so they’re always trashed by the end of it leaving me to answer on my own.” He says moodily.

“Raphael is really competitive about trivia.” Magnus loudly whispers, coaxing a giggle out of Alec. 

“I’m not competitive, I just like to win because I know all the answers but have you two as my handicap.”

“Well lucky for you my eternally angry angel, I plan on staying sober tonight. What kind of DD would I be if I left Alexander to find his own way home?”

“It’s really no problem Magnus, if you want to drink I can find—” Alec starts

“Nonsense Alexander! I offered to drive and I keep my promises.” Magnus winks playfully.

Alec lifts his hands in surrender. “Alright if you say so, but if you change your mind I can get an Uber it’s no problem.”

“I’ll keep that in mind but I assure you, you’ll be dropped back at your apartment but my marvelous self.” Magnus gestures to himself with a flourish. 

Alec laughs, “I look forward to it.” He says, picking his beer up and taking a sip.

“I hope it’s okay that I got you a beer Alec. It’s a tradition that we start with one.”

“Unfortunately,” Magnus grumbled, taking the tiniest sip of his.

“Not a fan?” Alec asks.

“I absolutely hate beer but Raphael is a superstitious fucker and insists we can’t break tradition.”

“Stop complaining and start drinking Magnus. You know none of us can start on our second round until everyone finishes.” 

Magus sighs and takes a bigger drink, “He’s lucky I love him.”

Alec pats Magnus on the shoulder, “You’re so brave.” He says sarcastically.

“I’m glad you recognize my courage, Alexander.” Magnus quips back, wishing Alec would keep his hand on his shoulder.

Just as the four of them finish their drinks, trivia kicks off. Magnus notices that Alec is actually quite good at trivia knowing not only the math questions but the literature and sports ones as well. He can’t help but be slightly impressed and thankful. Impressed at how many subjects he’s knowledgeable about and thankful that Alec is so consumed by trivia that it allows him to stare at him unabashedly.

He notices that his eyelashes are so long that they seem to brush against his face when he blinks. He gets to see how a crease forms between his eyebrows when he’s really concentrating on an answer and that he nervously fiddles with his hands when he’s unsure of something.

Magnus is beyond deep already and it is not lost on him. He’s had past loves and flings before but never one that has come on this fast and that terrifies him. However, he can’t but want to see where this goes. If he gets burned at least he’ll have the pleasure of knowing instead of wondering what if.

They must have stopped for the 10-minute break while Magnus was daydreaming because Raphael has gone to get drinks and Lily is seemingly grilling Alec. 

“So Alec what do you usually do on a Friday night?” Lily asks. 

“Nothing that interesting, to be honest. I usually hang out with my siblings and their partners. We do game or movie nights once a week.”

“Do you bring your girlfriend or boyfriend with you?” Lily hedges slyly. Magnus cuts her a look that says  _ what are you doing? _

“Oh err no, no boyfriend for me right now.” Alec looks thoughtfully down at his beer glass. Magnus' eyes widened in surprise.

“No?” Lily smiles at Magnus, giddy. “Even better, all four of us are single so you’ll fit in great.”

“You and Raphael aren’t…” Alec trails off as he looks between Magnus and Lily who have broken out into a loud fit of laughs.

“Absolutely not.” Lily manages to get out through gasping breaths.

“But M-Magnus said—,” Alec stammers.

“I was only saying that to get under his skin, it drives Raphael crazy,” Magnus says, still chuckling.

“Oh,” Alec says fiddling with his fingers.

“Don’t worry it happens all the time. We won’t even tell Raphael you asked.” Magnus offers.

“Thanks.” Alec smiles sheepishly. “So no one for you either?”

“Nope, it’s just me, myself, and I at the moment. Oh and the Chairman.”

“The Chairman?” Alec asks perplexed.

“That’s my cat, Chairman Meow.”

“Oh, of course, my apologies, how did I not pick that up.” Alec grins and then continues on, “But really no one for you either?”

“No why?”

“I thought for sure you were married or something with all those rings you wear.” Alec gestures awkwardly to the collection of rings on Magnus’ hand.

Magnus nearly chokes on his drink, “Nope just a fashion choice.”

“Well they suit you, they’re almost as pretty as you.” Alec winks at him and Magnus just about melts on the spot.

“Alright, we’re going to launch into our sudden death round folks so get you markers ready!” The moderator interrupts what was sure to be Magnus’ very smooth flirty rebuttal.

* * *

Their team ends up coming in second after Raphael and Alec work together to answer what is the most expensive book ever sold (Codex Leicester who knew? Not Magnus that’s for sure). By the time they leave the four of them are all in good spirits; Lily and Alec both a bit red-faced after downing two shots each to celebrate the victory. As they walk to their cars, Magnus can’t help but notice Alec is walking closer to him than necessary, their arms brushing ever so slightly. 

They get to Raphael’s car first who bluntly says, “This wasn’t a total disaster, you can bring him again Magnus.”

“Why thank you for your blessing, Raphael. What ever would I do without it.” Magnus rolls his eyes.

“Get home safely you two, do everything I would do.” Lily winks. 

“Wait what does that mean?” Alec asks, not quite getting the innuendo.

Magnus internally facepalms, “Aaaand with that lovely comment we’re leaving. We’ll see you Monday morning Lily.” Magnus pulls Alec by the elbow toward his car and away from whatever horrible innuendo was going to come out of Lily’s mouth next.

Breathing out a sigh of relief once he and Alec are safely in the car away from his meddling coworker, Magnus turns the car on and starts the directions back to Alec’s apartment.

“Thanks again for inviting me out, I had a lot of fun. This was much better than sitting alone in my apartment binge-watching documentaries” 

“Thank  _ you _ Alexander for accompanying me. I had no idea you were such a trivia prodigy.” Magnus shoots him a smile that’s barely visible in the low light of his car stereo.

“I may or may not have been on the academic decathlon team in high school,” Alec confesses.

“Oh no, what a tragedy. I didn’t know I was in the presence of a certified nerd!”

“You can’t say that when you’re also a STEM teacher!! I know you  _ have _ to have some secret nerdy passions.”

“I’ll have you know that chemistry is  _ very _ sexy.”

Alec laughs, “Oh yeah because balancing chemical equations is  _ such _ a big turn on.”

“You never know unless you try.” Magnus winks.

“I guess I’ll have to give it a fair shot then.” Alec challenges. “I’ll get your nerdy hobby out of you Magnus, just you wait.”

“Have fun trying sweetheart, you’ll never get it out of me.” Magnus grins.

“What made you choose chemistry in the first place?” Alec asks.

“Why? Would you have pegged me as an English sort of guy?” 

“Art, actually. You’re just so colourful and full of energy I would have thought that would have meant you were more of a creative, right-brain sort of person.”

“It’s funny you would say that because I did think about going into fashion. Even won a couple of design competitions back in high school but I took chemistry at 16 and it all just made sense.”

“Really? Even with all those equations and elements to memorize?” 

Magnus thinks back to his undergrad days where he cried over organic chem, thinking he’d never be cut out to be a chemistry teacher, “It wasn’t all easy. I struggled, for sure, but I knew I had to stick with it.” 

“How?” Alec asks earnestly.

“No one expects the bisexual, Asian guy with a flair for fashion to major in chemistry, let alone be good at it.”

Alec nods, seemingly understanding where Magnus is coming from. “You had to prove them wrong.”

Magnus nods, “I had to make them all look ridiculous for ever doubting I wouldn’t make it.” As he looks out through the windshield he disappointingly sees the front of Alec’s apartment building coming into view as he pulls around the corner into the parking lot. 

As he looks up from shifting into park, Alec’s face is suddenly inches from his. “Magnus?”

Magnus swallows, “Yes?” Magnus can see the black ring around Alec’s blue eyes and every freckle across his cheeks.

“It’s DND isn’t it?

He lets out a surprised laugh. “No it isn’t Dungeons and Dragons”

“I’m gonna keep guessing until I get you to crack.”

“I look forward to your best efforts over the next 10 weeks.” 

Alec gives him a soft smile, “I’ll see you on Monday, Magnus.” He says as he opens the car door.

“I’ll see you on Monday, Alexander.”


End file.
